WNBA Nashville Board Members 2026-2028
Chapter email: [email protected]
Executive Committee:
President: Carly Anderson
Past President: Ami McConnell
Vice President & Programming Chair: Amylane Reeve
Treasurer: Tatjana Stoljarova
Secretary: Abigail Wells
Committee Chairs:
Coffee with Authors Chair & SFOB Chair: Cici Christman
Book Club Chair: Kimberly Dana
Hospitality Chair: Linda Harris
Membership Chair: Catherine B. Hooper
Communications Chair: Mad Smith
Social Media Chair: Lauren Ellis Snider
Chapter email: [email protected]
Executive Committee:
President: Carly Anderson
Past President: Ami McConnell
Vice President & Programming Chair: Amylane Reeve
Treasurer: Tatjana Stoljarova
Secretary: Abigail Wells
Committee Chairs:
Coffee with Authors Chair & SFOB Chair: Cici Christman
Book Club Chair: Kimberly Dana
Hospitality Chair: Linda Harris
Membership Chair: Catherine B. Hooper
Communications Chair: Mad Smith
Social Media Chair: Lauren Ellis Snider
Meet our board members
Carly Anderson, President, is a poet, author, and the founder of Carly Anderson Public Relations. She was recently named an ECPA emerging leader in the publishing industry, and her creative work has been featured by Inkwell, The Echo Literary Journal, and The Rabbit Room. You can find her debut poetry collection, Dust and Dew, on Amazon and find out more about her work at carlyandersonpr.com or on Substack @carlymarlys.
Ami McConnell, Past President, is a publishing consultant and literary agent based in Nashville, TN. In 2018 she founded WriterFest Nashville, a two-day conference for writers of book, song, and screen, and she hosts the WriterFest Podcast. Her career includes posts as Editor-in-Chief of an imprint of Simon & Schuster and Senior Acquisitions Editor for HarperCollins. She’s a book doctor, ghost-writer, collaborator, and author, midwife to hundreds of book babies. She lives with her family in Franklin, Tennessee.
Amylane Reeve, Vice President & Programming Chair, is a writer, photographer, and mixed media artist inspired by the natural world. She is the former owner of an event planning business. You can find her reading suspense, Gothic mysteries, nonfiction, and whatever someone has recommended.
Abigail Wells, Secretary, is a bookseller, educator, and writer. She was born in the heart of Mississippi, raised in the shadows of Arizona's Superstition Mountains, but has lived in Nashville metro for most of her life. Abigail received an M.A. in English rhetoric from MTSU, where she completed her master's thesis Unexpected Intimacies: A Scrapbook of Critical Fictions. From there, she was an adjunct professor, teaching literature and composition courses across the Middle Tennessee region. She currently works at Parnassus Books. You can find her work in Blue Marble Review, Moody Zine, Let's Stab Caesar!, The Taco Bell Quarterly, and more.
Tatjana Stoljarova, Treasurer, is a linguist, lawyer, and mom raising a multilingual child. She is also an international TEDx speaker whose talk on disappearing mother tongues has reached more than a million people worldwide.
Her life has been shaped by languages: She was born in a country that no longer exists, earned a degree in linguistics and translation in a city which changed its name three times, and later received a law degree in the United States. Along the way she has worked as an interpreter, project manager, language teacher, plant manager, law firm associate, corporate counsel, adjunct professor, and coach for young lawyers and translators, traveling to more than thirty countries and witnessing how languages open opportunities and how words carry culture and connection.
She is happy that volunteering at the Southern Festival of Books brought her and her daughter (who is a young author) to the WNBA! She is proud to serve on the Board with such amazing women united by their passion for books.
Her life has been shaped by languages: She was born in a country that no longer exists, earned a degree in linguistics and translation in a city which changed its name three times, and later received a law degree in the United States. Along the way she has worked as an interpreter, project manager, language teacher, plant manager, law firm associate, corporate counsel, adjunct professor, and coach for young lawyers and translators, traveling to more than thirty countries and witnessing how languages open opportunities and how words carry culture and connection.
She is happy that volunteering at the Southern Festival of Books brought her and her daughter (who is a young author) to the WNBA! She is proud to serve on the Board with such amazing women united by their passion for books.
Caitlin "Cici" Christman, Coffee with Authors & SFOB Chair, is an avid reader, writer, and lover of books. In her day job she works with her husband as a clinical psychiatric pharmacist at the non-profit mental health and substance use clinic they founded . She has seen first-hand how impactful a book can be for a person, and is constantly recommending books to her patients. She enjoys supporting anything book related however she can, and has found a home with fellow book lovers in WNBA- Nashville.
Kimberly Dana, Book Club Chair, is an award-winning author and literacy specialist. She is the founder of Nashville's Thrills and Chills Book Club, one of the region's largest book communities. When she’s not writing, Kimberly enjoys traveling the country to give author presentations to children and young adults. The owner of far too many books and cowboy boots, she lives with her husband and their spoiled Maltese, Clementine.
Linda Harris, Hospitality Chair, began her career in the publishing industry as a book buyer for a regional chain of bookstores and Walmart. From there she became a field sales representative for Little, Brown calling on independent bookstores in the mid-South.
Linda then moved her sales focus to mass merchant accounts and eventually became the Executive Director for the Mass Channel for Hachette Book Group, a leading book publisher based in New York and a division of Hachette Livre, the third-largest publisher in the world.
Catherine B. Hooper, Membership Chair, is an author who writes upbeat fiction under the pen name, Cat B. Hooper. Her debut novel, a southern based, book club oriented story is being pitched to publishers, and while under consideration, she is working on her second novel, a story full of fun magical realism.
Originally from Birmingham, Alabama, she is also a former communications manager, event planner and alumni relations director for Vanderbilt University where she earned a degree in creative writing. She is thrilled to welcome new members to our literary community, and help grow our membership.
Mad Smith, Communications Chair, is a book lover, bookseller, & speed reader who grew up in South Korea and Vietnam, and loves combining her twin favorites: travel and reading. Currently, she works at the Country Music Hall of Fame, managing their online store. Give her a shout if you’ve got any short story recommendations!
Lauren Ellis Snider, Social Media Chair, is a freelance marketing and design expert specializing in content strategy for authors and creatives. Her experience includes managing campaigns for New York Times bestselling authors, collaborating with publishing houses, and crafting brand strategies for writers at all stages. A writer herself, Lauren holds an MFA from Mississippi University for Women and enjoys writing speculative fiction and creative nonfiction.
Job Descriptions for Executive Committee
Chapter President
Vice President
Treasurer
Secretary
- Recruit board members. Arrange for training and assistance as needed.
- Set agenda for board meetings with input from the board and conduct regular board meetings
- Participate in bi-monthly chapter president calls with national president and other chapter presidents
- Respond to correspondence generated by website
- Send minutes and other correspondence to Columbia University at the end of each year
- Attend annual National board meeting or designate someone to attend
- Subscribe to national listserv and communicate information to chapter as needed
- Introduce and wrap up monthly programs as needed
- Provide annual report for National
- Award the Carolyn Taylor Wilson Award for volunteerism at the Holiday Dinner
- Attend board meetings
Vice President
- Conduct the business of the organization if the president is unable
- Assist the president
- Attend board meetings
Treasurer
- Receive and deposit the chapter/organization’s money
- Pay bills and work closely with Membership chair to pay National dues
- File appropriate paperwork with the IRS and meet deadlines for tax info, audit, etc.
- Conduct an annual audit
- Report financial status to the board
- Provide annual report for National
- Attend board meetings
Secretary
- Attend board meetings and take minutes
- Distribute minutes for review in a timely manner
- Finalize draft after board vote and upload to appropriate folder in shared Google Drive